Good evening all,
Thanks for the encouragement! I really appreciate the advice and backing.
I had been feeling pretty down as it seemed as though the GP implied that, because of my genetic disposition to diabetes, I am unlikely to keep it in remission/at bay long term. 😩 and I must stop worrying about it, keeping weight down and on low carb despite the Hb1Ac showing I have gone back into pre diabetic.
However, I have decided to be positive and continue to record my stats, so I can keep an eye on what is happening! This evening, 2 hours after roast beef with a medley of roasted vegetables (butternut squash, celeriac, swede, carrots and courgette), broccoli and buttered French beans followed by cooked eating apple with black and raspberries, a prick test gave my BG as 5.2 mmol/L !!!!!!!!! There is nothing diabetic about that result even though I had a good plateful!

I think I will stop calculating carbs in everything I eat, and see how it goes!

So, all in all, I aim to retain control and will just be hoping that I will remain in remission!

You are all very special people. So let’s keep on keeping on!
K xxx

Pootle, I think measuring after food is a waste of time and maybe that is where you are too obssesed (if that is what the doctor said). Carry on measuring but do it on a empty stomach, first thing in the morning, just once a day. As long as you do that you will get a more accurate reading and learn what your normal is and see if there are any ups or downs. It is more important that you know what carbs you are having and you know what carbs are not good carbs as opposed to things like in your meal which were mainly good carbs. So dont stop counting. Example, if you said you had a piece of cake for dessert and still had a reading of 5.2 you would be in a good place but what you did eat should have given you the good reading it did. Hope I am explaining this properly. Counting calories is less important as being low carb automatically limits the number of calories.

One other thing is about you being programmed to have diabetes because of genetics is partly true which is why you/ we have to keep control of this. But this is true of anyone who has diabetes for other reasons and we will always be just a few bad meals from pre of full diabetes. Sorry but that is a fact. I think of it like smoking. I haven’t smoked for 32 years but if I went on holiday and had a cigarette after every meal I would soon find myself back as a smoker and addicted. The other thing about carbs are what Antigone said, a bad weekend and the cravings are back. Carbs creep up on us. Stay strong, you have come so far. Sometimes doctors like to think they are the ones who know everything and are in control but we know we have the power to stay well and beat this thing.

It is still 29 degrees at just after 11pm and looking forward (not) to another sticky night.

Hi S-G.
I haven’t measured often after food…but have been measuring ‘fasting’ every morning… (only 3 spikes above 5.4 in the past 3 months). I got demoralised because I thought she was saying I am wasting my time keeping to low carb as I will eventually be diabetic again anyway!! 😩 All I am doing is slowing the process! 🥲 HOWEVER, having done the ‘after food’ test yesterday, with quite a lot of simple carbs in the meal ( weighed as; Squash 5g carrot 3g, Swede 3g, courgette 2g, celeriac 4g, beans 4g, broccoli 4g, gravy 2g, Apple 7g, berries 4g, cream 3g = 40g in one meal!!) I am satisfied that I am doing the right thing by sticking to the plan! I haven’t been eating that much carb in one meal for a very long time…sticking to around 50g per day. I don’t eat breakfast unless I am away…never hungry enough to be bothered at home! So although I have gone back into pre, I am going to ignore that and just keep going with low carb. I will still avoid the complex carbs…I don’t want to have to go through the carb monster withdrawal again. I knew that I was testing myself yesterday with that amount in one meal…

Thanks every one. I appreciate the back up!
K.xx

I hope your colonoscopy result is good Lacy & S-G gosh having to deal with 40c plus heat must be very trying. I’m sorry to hear how disappointed you are with your results Pootle but you are doing the best you can eating low carb to help yourself & try not to get stressed about it 👍
Thank you everyone for support & I am on my second weeks course of on antibiotics hoping to quickly heal my second area. I have a check up on Wednesday when it will be redressed. I bravely weighed today & am pleased to say that I have only gained four pounds in weight despite all my husbands generous food offerings 😀
Keep on going everyone I hope to be joining you soon with some weight loss 🤞🤞
Margaret xx

Margaret,
🤞 for your check up on Wednesday. I hope the antibiotics have done the trick! Great news that you have only increased by 4lb… which I am sure will shift when you get back to the diet.

I feel so in awe of everyone coping with other major health problems and still being able to concentrate on the diet. As well as being so supportive on this forum. You are all awesome!!
K xxx

Hi everyone, Antigone I am Bergerac area. I have always weighed on a Tuesday because of the Sunday closing in France (too lazy to get up early on a Sunday morning). We shop on a Thursday (it is quieter) and I wanted all fresh veg to start the diet so did a shop on the Monday and started the diet on the Tuesday – nearly 10 years ago.

Pootle, I am not sure if it is just the words but to clear any confusion – the meal you had was full of complex carbs – low and slow with lots of fibre and nutrients – it was a great meal although you wouldn’t normally have that many varieties in one meal. Therefore, it should have given a good reading (5.2). Simple carbs are the ones to avoid like bread, pasta, rice, sugars etc. Now, what you doctor said, and I don’t want to upset you, it is true you will always have a propensity to diabetes (see my smoking analogy – once a smoker always a smoker). What she said that was wrong was that if you stick with low carb foods you will go back to pre or diabetes. That is not true – she obviously thinks it is too hard to maintain over a long period – hello there – I am 10 years low carb and kept my BG good. Obviously if you do slide back into our old dietary habits the diabetes will come back. But you know that, hence the slip ups of late and the higher reading a couple of tests back. Look at me, 2 weeks on a cruise, one week at daughters but still celebrating 32nd wedding anniversary and hubbies 80th so the treats continued leading to an extremely high HbAic (7.2 which is high for me). Like you I was met by a doctor who decided to talk down to me trying to tell me where I was going wrong and I would never get the hang of it. Well stuff them, we know what we are doing and we know it works for us. Just keep on the low carb plan and you will get back to that non-diabetic status. It might have set you back a bit but nothing is easy. I am hoping my BG is down to its 6.2 range when I am tested next month.

Woke up to overcast skies and forecast for rain but still waiting but mainly a lovely cook 24 degrees. Keep on keeping on…

Good morning everyone,
Margaret – good luck for your next check up! Hopefully when they re-dress your knee it’ll be looking much better! And thank you, yes, got my biopsy results this morning and all clear, so I’m good now for another 5 years🤞
S-G – Yes, I’m in Melbourne – a lot less humid in summer than you’d have been used to! And thank you for such a clear description of how complex and simple carbs differ in how they affect BG levels/spikes. Carbs are the one thing I do track very carefully, and it’s too easy to just lump them all in together! Also thanks for highlighting yet again what we’re up against when dealing with the (mostly very discouraging) medical profession – thank goodness for the support offered by all the wonderful people on this forum! And not just support but lived experience, both the highs and lows, which is a far more valuable resource than anything offered by most GPs or Diabetes Nurses.
Pootle – I do hope you’re feeling better in yourself now and aren’t still worrying about what the doctor said. As S-G so succinctly put it – “stuff them”! No effort spent on improving your health is ever wasted.
Anyway, take care everyone,
Lacy 💖

Hi everyone, my weight was a disappointment – still at 4lb loss. My own fault, I think I have carb creep – yesterday 2 boiled eggs with 1 Ryvita, then lunch one Ryvita with my soup. Dinner was okay but hubby had a pitta bread and I broke off a corner – tiny piece to mop up the remains of my bolognaise. But then, late (around 11pm) I felt really hungry and instead of having a slice of ham or something like that, I made myself a ham and cheese pickle sandwich, just one slice of bread. If not for that I might be down another half a pound at least. So I am not perfect and I have to do better. Just over 2 weeks to doctors appointment, 2 half weeks to leaving on holiday. Must get a grip.

Pootle, I hope you are feeling better about things and not upset with my lecture. I see on another thread you feel like the doctor is telling you the non diabetic numbers before were just a glitch. No, the numbers you are seeing now are the glitch. You know how to get them down – I too am struggling and will find out in 2 weeks if I have got mine back down after the holiday.

If anyone is struggling with which carbs to eat and which not to, go to dietdoctor.com and search for high carb foods. He does a list of veg and fruits. Just looked and he now calls it visuals here is the link https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/visual-guides. Mainly bad carbs grow underground and good ones above. I disagrees a bit as carrots are not too bad but it shows how many carbs per 100g. Trust me, it is a good thing to pin to the fridge.

We have just had a bad afternoon. Short story. Ordered new car in March, delivery very long 17th July. Went in week before to see about paperwork (insurance, registration etc) and they said they cannot now deliver until end September or even longer. We have decided we don’t want it as our circumstances have changed so went in today to cancel and they said we would be in breach of contract as we had 55 days to change our minds. Well 55 days wouldnt have taken us to the first delivery date so we wouldnt know we were going to be messed about. I told the guy the date of delivery on the contract is 17 July so they are in breach of contract. Now we have to fight it out. Bit stressed.

Anyway, have a good week. Hubby cooks tonight and it will be chicken sausages, fried egg and beans so not sure what I will weigh tomorrow. Keep on keeping on…

Hi S-G.
I have the visual “carb reminders” printed out, laminated & pinned to my fridge. That is mostly where I get my figures from to calculate what I am eating!
I am sorry I miss-named complex and simple!!! 🤯

Just as a test for my own satisfaction ( I know you said not too, but this is the last time for a while 🙄) We went out for lunch & I had a chocolate brownie with cream🫣! 2 hours later my reading was 5.3…😄 So I am definitely going to stop testing… will continue to avoid bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes, sweets, pastries anything ‘floury’ etc.etc and just enjoy the lower carb foods that I have come to like!

Sorry your weight loss hasn’t gone as planned, but I am sure you will get it back on track!
Your new car story sounds frustrating! I hope you come out on top… as they have breached the contract with the delay to the delivery date! Very stressful, which doesn’t help with diet and health’

Lacy, good news about your biopsy! 🎉 that must be such a relief!

Margaret, I will have everything crossed for you tomorrow! 🤞🤞
Thanks everyone, I hope you are all having a good week!!
K xxx

Just a quick ‘hello’.

Good to hear the ‘good’ and ‘improving’ health results. Hoping the next consultations are good.

It’s Tuesday, my weigh-in day so need to report I’ve lost :2.2 of my 2.4lb holiday gain so really happy with that.

New week. We can all start afresh with a new goal for the week. Let’s make it a good one!

Well- Verano- I have copied and pasted your quote about old and new ambitions into my notes section as I really need to get back on the healthy eating (and exercise)- I’ve been feeling rubbish mentally and physically for months- I was putting a lot of it down to chronic stress, and I am on the verge of going for a GP check up- was thinking hormones or something also could be a factor- however- I’ve been eating poorly and my weight is continuing to rise (no surprise): I am going to try an at least 2 week diet trial first- as I keep putting my health last priority and I think it’s not doing me any good- so- restart healthy eating, reinstate some exercise gradually, get more sleep…..and see how I feel then. If my body does not respond like before to the WOE (felt much better and lost weight), then I will consider a GP check. I don’t have any very worrying symptoms, by the way, just general bleurgh-ness. It’s not quite time for my annual check up, so I am going to try this 1st….

Love to all- I’ve been reading this each day and you are all hugely inspirational.

I think that my original motivation was get out of pre diabetes with bonus of getting slimmer….but that isn’t working this time, as my bloods haven’t slipped back up to pre-diabetes, not yet anyway, probably because I have retained some aspects of lower carb throughout- e.g. most breakfasts.

So- hence thinking about new motivation- it would be crazy to treat a load of symptoms in other ways if the cause is actually poor diet again- the WOE hugely improved my fatigue before so really should be tried properly again!

Hi all, I am struggling at the moment. Yesterday I had 2 boiled eggs (no Ryvita and butter), a thin vegetable soup and them we had our usual clear the fridge out omelette for tea. So not a lot and I was pleased for sticking to calories and low carbs. Then around 11 pm I got up to get a glass of water and felt weak and shakey. Took my BG and it was down to 2.7 so I had a cheese and ham sandwich for a quick fix. Retest after 10 mins and still only at 2.9 so sucking a Werthers sweet then a glucose drink. It is all just a waste of time trying to get the balance right. I dont exactly starve myself as I allow snacks between meals like I had some melon and a few pistachio nuts. I think I have to worry more about my BG and my upcoming HbA1c results (9th September doctors appt) and not get so hung up on losing weight. Just got to eat the right things but in larger quantities.

As a diabetic my life is ruled by my diet. I cant just be on a diet and then not on a diet, every day I have to be careful what I eat and drink and I just get sick of it. It also p—ses me off the my doctor is giving me a drug that increases my weight while telling me to lose weight to improve my diabetes. I think we will be having a chat about that and I am going to suggest semeglutide and see what he says (again).

Pootle, I wasn’t really referring to you with the dietdoctor chart but anyone who might be confused about carbs – I still make stupid mistakes. Can I also say that the numbers you are coming up with i.e. 5.2 2 hours after a meal are well within the non-diabetic range so maybe your more recent HbA1cs were the glitches i.e. did you have the test done within a few weeks of returning from, say, a holiday. Like me, my Hb.. was 7.2 and the young doctor talked to me like a child, whereas my real doctor would have said ‘oh you are just back from a cruise’ ‘daft time to have a blood test and it will come down’. Which is what I am hoping for on my next test.

Enough moaning from me. How is everyone else getting on. We have cooler weather and even though I cant go for a swim it is just heavenly to be able to sleep.

Take care and keep on keeping on… I try to do as I preach but it is not easy.

Hi s-g, just popping on here to respond to your post. I’m sorry you are struggling right now. Very frustrating, isn’t it? I just watched a video from Dr. Jason Fung where he talks about some of the newer drugs for diabetes, including semeglutide, and another from Dr. Ben Bikman where he talks about how semeglutide is being used now and how he disagrees with that approach. He suggests that it should be microdosed in order to deal with people’s carb addiction while they change their diet, but I think you’ve already worked through that over the last several years. Basically semeglutide just gets you to eat less, but you are already doing that now without the drug. Jason Fung talks about how insulin just corrects blood glucose without dealing with the underlying problem that there is too much energy already stored in the system (through glycogen and fat), and will make it worse in the long run (as you already know) because insulin is a hormone that drives even more energy storage in the body. Jason Fung says that you need to deal with the storage issue. He talks about canagliflozin as a newer drug that deals with the storage issue itself. I looked it up and it can have some pretty nasty side effects, but then so does semeglutide. But maybe another option to talk to your doctor about? Another option could be to just tell him that you are coming off the insulin and want to try to deal with your diabetes through a therapeutic fasting regime and ask if he could support you in that and monitor you to make sure you stay safe. I’m leaning into fasting again right now and it seems to be working. Fasting glucose was down to 4.5 mmol/L this morning.

Thank you for the advice and information arctic. I am beginning to think my doctor just thinks at 72 I am too old to make any changes. My thoughts about semeglutide are not in the weight loss in inself but getting off insulin which is a drug that, as you said, stores the glycogen hence putting on weight. Neither does it do anything for removing glucose from the body, just stores it somewhere out of sight. Which is why we have to be monitored for various organ damage i.e. heart, eyes, kidneys and liver to be specific. It is an absolute blessing to type 1 diabetics but a double edged sword for type 2’s who used to be treated with low carb diets even back in the 1800’s. Hubby said he read about a new drug but he couldn’t remember the name. I will make a note of the ones you mention. I did tell doctor I was coming off insulin and he said I could if I could get down to less than 7 units. I got to 7 units and then went on holiday and up it went again. I will certainly be having a conversation.

Well the sod it baguette and tuna sandwich have not had any effect on my weight but THANKS TO ARCTIC I have re-discovered Jason Fung. I have his book The Diabetes Code and the shock it gave me when he said sugar in your body is rotting all your organs from the inside out. So it is not just insulin injections causing the problem, the glucose would still be there without the insulin. I have started re-watching his Low Carb Diets for Type 2 Diabetes series, starting from the beginning (there are 6 in the series) and boy do I have carb creep. For example, I have boiled eggs most mornings – with a Ryvita. Today I also had onions soup with a Ryvita. Hubby said that I have always kept eating Ryvita but I know it used to be maybe one or 2 a week, now it is one or 2 a day. Tonight hubby is cooking fish and chips and I would normally have that but take most of the batter off and just have 2, 4, 6 chips, yes it has crept up. We are buying the battered fish from the freezer because cod is €35 a kilo, up from around €18 a year or so ago, which I would just cook dipped in egg. Then I wonder why I am not losing weight and my BG was high at the last test – not just the cruise feasting.

Back to Jason Fung. I would advise anyone struggling to look on YouTube and watch the full series – only 11 or 12 minutes for each part and it will get your head back into what we should and shouldnt be doing.

Thank you arctic, must get back to number 3 or the series.

Glad it helped, s-g. Jason Fung also has a newer series called The Diabetes Clinic, also in 6 parts. The last part was just posted a month ago. I’ve been watching it and found it to be helpful. I especially like his analogy that blood glucose is like the food on your dining table, and stored energy is like the food in your fridge. Insulin like a person who can open the fridge and shove any extra food on the dining table into the fridge for later. Adding more insulin will allow you to put more food from the dining table into the fridge for a while, and sure, you will then have less food on the dining table, but if you ignore all that food in the fridge it will eventually start to rot away in there. If you then go and buy more groceries without using the food in your fridge, you can only fit so much in the fridge, and it will start to back up on the dining table, no matter how much insulin you have to try to shove it in the fridge. So the solution is to empty out the fridge and use all that stored energy, but you need lower insulin levels to do this because otherwise it stands there trying to keep putting stuff in the fridge and won’t let any out.
Before I started back on the fasting, I made sure I was going much lower carb, and then I went for a 10-20 min walk after each meal. I had to stop doing the evening one though as it was causing me to go hypoglycemic overnight. I’m obviously not on exogenous insulin, but I have this lovely system that over-reacts to everything, so I have learned in the last couple of weeks of wearing the cgm that I need to avoid those hypos because I get a huge cortisol spike after them that sends my blood glucose soaring and then causes another crash as my system releases too much insulin in response. So I am now only getting carbs at dinner from things like broccoli and bok choy that have virtually no impact on my blood glucose. If I want any carbs in the day, I have to have only a moderate amount and have them at breakfast or lunch when I still have movement left in my day to get my muscles to use them up.
I hear you about the carb creep, and those food companies are so sneaky with them. A couple months ago, I wanted some oven chips, bad enough if I made them myself, but I didn’t even do that. I bought a packet of them from the freezer section. Well, much to my surprise, I got glutened and had stomach pain for 2 days. Aren’t they just potatoes? Looked at the back of the packet and sure enough, they used wheat starch and flour to coat them. I’m sure they were horrible for my blood glucose too. So when I have them again, I will make them myself. Not a huge time sink to chop a potato, coat in olive oil and bake. I’m not having them now though because I’m trying to use up my stored energy. In order to not feel deprived, I am telling myself that I will be able to have the homemade version as a once in a while treat once I get all this excess energy cleared out of my system. But actually, I wasn’t enjoying my meals so much when I was eating higher carb. I am really enjoying what I am eating right now and planning and cooking it too. My body feels better nourished and I have more energy.

Glad you’ve got your motor back SG..motivation for us all. I’m sure we’ll all be watching those videos! I see that a few of you have been having tough times and I applaud your resilience. Thank you all for posting your ups and downs..it really is inspiring . Much cooler here now – Im off for an evening horse ride…Have a great weekend all.

Arctic, you mention potatoes which are something I never eat (okay maybe sneak 2 or 3 oven chips) but actually find they are not too bad, especially if cooled and in a cold potato salad or even a baked potato which has GI of around 95 but a GL (load) of only 20, which can be reduced further if the potato is dressed with say fat or protein. So I am looking forward to having that baked potato with cheese and tuna. But not until I am back in control.

Antigone, the beauty of this site is that we are all learning from each other and none of us are too clever to think we know it all.

S-g, yes they are not too bad for me either. They do spike me a bit, but are not nearly as bad as gluten-free bread which is just terrible or even rice. I found myself eating more of them after my gastritis started as I actually found them quite soothing on my stomach. When I was young, I didn’t like the starchy part of jacket potatoes, so I always just ate the skins with some butter and gave the starch to someone else. My aversion to waste has meant that I gave up doing that since I’ve been living on my own, but something to consider again now that I grow my own potatoes and can just compost that starch and turn it back into the soil.

Just an update after my hospital visit that my knee is nearly healed & thank heavens my Flucloxacillin finishes today because I have had gut problems & a generally unwell feeling since starting it. I weighed & have only lost one pound but still cannot exercise much so not surprising 😢
Keep on going everyone 👍
Margaret xx

Glad to here your recovery is now going well Margaret. You will soon be back on your feet.

Good news Margaret!

Hope this link works. It is a video by Ben Bikman talking about natural ways to increase GLP-1. He explains so clearly how GLP-1 works to inhibit glucagon. The perspective that Type 2 diabetics not only have too much insulin, but also glucagon is really interesting. I wonder if that is because the body is desperately trying to protect the liver from taking in even more excess sugar, so it is dumping it into the blood stream. But I’m not at all an expert in this field, so don’t know, just speculation on my part. Perhaps I should put that question to Dr. Bikman?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqHQMrJBlw

Hi all,
Fantastic news about your knee Margaret, and I imagine it is a relief to finally finish your antibiotics. Some of them have very nasty side-effects indeed, but we’d be in a lot of trouble without them, wouldn’t we!
And thank you Arcticfox and Sunshine-girl for all the fantastic information and useful links/resources you’ve shared. I am learning so much!
My weight loss has slowed to an absolute crawl. But I still have a way to go, so I’ll just keep plugging away!
Hope everyone is doing ok,
Lacy xx

Hi everyone, all is well with me and weight is starting to come off even though I am eating more. BG is steady at between 4.6 and 5.2. Just needed to get into the right head space and Jason Fung was the answer. It is no good sticking to 800 calories and not eating enough of the good stuff like proteins and oils, stopped looking at the calories. Yesterday I had a really big green salad with tuna and included half an avocado and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I wont be swimming today as I am suffering from my usual Sunday morning tummy. Even before I have finished eating brunch I have to rush to the toilet. Have now been 4 times but taken an imodium. I am going to have to work out what causes this – it is regular as clockwork. Alternative weeks of bacon or sausage – so not that, canned tomatoes – could be. Fried egg, well I am a bit sensitive to eggs but eat them most days boiled and has no ill effect. Finally, mushrooms fried in rapeseed oil. That is going to be the first thing I cut out as they absorb a lot of oil and that might be it. Hey ho, stuck in the house close to the loo.

Hope you in the UK have a lovely Bank Holiday Monday.

Arctic, I have watched the Dr Bikman video and ordered some Yerba Mate tea which is supposed to increase GPL1 by 40%. Maybe clutching at straws or wasting my money but worth a try.

S-g I’m sure that we can eat too little. I find when I eat three meals a day I do far better than when I try to ‘starve’ on 800 calories. After all, 800 calories was supposed only to be for 8 weeks! When we cruise I eat three meals a day every day, not overdosing on sweet stuff etc. but manage to only put on 2-3lbs? At home I usually eat brunch and dinner.
Yes go for proteins and oils!

Im here for my weekly weight reveal and can say that I have lost 1.5 lbs, total of 5.25 over the last 5 weeks, so back on track to lose 7lbs in 7 weeks.

I have stopped counting calories so I don’t sweat over the good stuff like avocados, olive oil, nuts and seeds etc. They add the calories but are so good for you. I have stopped the odd carb creep like the Ryvita and maybe half a baguette now and then. I stop eating at 8pm and make my breakfast for 10.30 am as long as my bg is just okay, if my bg is good I can go to lunchtime so yesterday did 17 hour fast. The missing breakfast is easiest for me because hubby eats before I get up so is not put out by my not having anything. But it is difficult to let him sit down for lunch or dinner (which we always sit at the table together) and me not eat anything. Anyway, it seems to be working.

Next week I will weigh on Monday as we are out Monday night and bound to have a negative effect although the food is generally starch free there is the bread and the wine. After that I will have 4 days to blood tests and 9 days to doctors appointment, so still determined.

Have a good week everyone. It is still hot here (32 today) but we are looking forward to rain and storms. Forgot to say, we have a viewing of our house tomorrow so I have expended lots of energy cleaning and putting things out of sight 🙂

All sounds good s-g👍👍👍

Hello All
Hope your tummy has sorted itself out SG, especially with a viewing – hope it goes well for you. Bit dissapointing on the scales for me this week as have gained back 1 kilo of the 4 I have lost since starting 🙁 Not sure why but hey ho. I have done several hours of strimming this week and the trimmer is so heavy I can’t attach it to the harness on my own – so quite a workout! Also riding every day ( keep promising my little horse I’ll be lighter tomorrow….lol) In better news, my blood pressure has dropped and sustaining good levels so I am pleased about that. Soft return to teaching next week, then full on the week after so a bit more routine may help. Good luck everyone

Post above reported.

Hi V, thanks for reporting that. It was my exact post from a few weeks ago. Bloody A1.

Nothing to report except we had our viewing this morning – they were 2 hours early but luckily we had done most of the hard graft. Now all I need is a gag for my husband, he cant say anything without it being a negative. For example, they loved the gazebo, hubby says but is lets the rain in when it is heavy. Pool, tells them that it is hard work and the pump has to be removed every winter and it is heavy. No it is just him that likes to remove it every winter because he is faddy about keeping things nice. We have a fosse and there is a long run out to the stink pipes, hubby tells them they cant grow anything on it because of the pipes, not true, you cant plant anything with deep roots, so no trees, but you could plant bushes or have a vegetable garden. I could go on, I now have a list of things he is not allowed to say. When the viewers had gone the agent said you really shouldn’t mention negatives. So he has had a bo–cking from her and then from me. Im thinking of telling people he has dementia. I know that would be cruel but he does come out with some strange things that are simply not true. If viewers of the future have any questions they can ask me.

No change in weight but still steady. I got my delivery of Yerba Mate tea powder as recommended by Dr Bikman, lets see if it does anything for me.

S-G fingers crossed for your next viewings to be positive 🤞🤞
I am feeling miserable at the moment because I now have a UTI so on another course of antibiotics with the having to stay close to the loo with more antibiotics side effects plus not sleeping only having 1.5 hours last night. I really don’t quite know what to do with myself at the moment 😢 I can’t take Imodium with antibiotics!
Margaret xx

Thanks Margaret, as for your problems, antibiotics can cause loo problems. Maybe try some saurkraut or kombuca, something to replace the gut bacteria that antibiotics destroy. What am I thinking of….. fermented foods I usually get from the health store.

S-g could you ‘lock up’ OH in a barn or somewhere when you have a viewing.???

Hi all,
S-G – you could have been describing my OH! And honestly, I think that’s why house agents usually insist that the owners are not in the house when they’re holding a viewing over here! Fingers’ crossed that they just regard him as refreshingly honest and make an offer because of it (stranger things have happened!)

Margaret – you’re really going through the wringer at the moment! Apart from trying fermented foods, I think the other thing S-G was thinking of was Probiotics. There are specific ones that are very helpful for treating antibiotic-related diarrhoea. I had a look online for UK products and Optibac Travel Abroad has the 2 specific strains that are recommended. (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG & Saccharomyces boulardii). If they don’t seem to be working you might try one containing Lactobacillus casei, which is helpful if the diarrhoea is caused by an overgrowth of a specific nasty bug (clostridium difficile). Optibac One Week Flat contains that one, but I’m sure there are lots of other brands that you could look at. Don’t know if they’d help or not, but it can’t hurt to give them a try.

After more than a fortnight of almost no weight loss I decided a bit of shock-therapy was needed. So I did a 36 hour fast, which worked brilliantly. Dropped a kilo, half of which went straight back on again of course, but I’ve lost that too within a day or so and am steadily losing weight again. I’ve done IF in the past so knew how to go about it safely, but it was still very hard. Fasting while on a severely restricted diet is a completely different experience to fasting while eating ‘normally’. But it kicked me off the plateau, which was the aim!

Anyhoo, take care everyone,
Lacy xx

Thank you Lacy its very kind of you to do some research for me I am very touched & grateful 😍
My husband & I have a daily Kefir which is a pre-biotic of live good bacteria but of course that will be not much use whilst I’m taking antibiotics but I am still having it & organic natural Greek yoghurt. I will have a look for Optibac Travel Abroad.
Thank you very much & well done getting back to losing weight again 👏👏
Margaret xx

No worries Margaret – I was an aged-care nurse for many years, now retired, so have some experience with the havoc antibiotics can wreak on a system weakened somewhat after major surgery. I just hope the probiotics are helpful. Kefir and Greek yoghurt are both very good for the gut biome so I’d still keep taking them too.
And thank you! I was getting so down about the weight not shifting, even though I was sticking religiously to my diet. I think I wouldn’t have felt so hard-done-by if I’d cheated a bit, you know? Anyway, fingers crossed my weight keeps going in the right direction!
Take care of yourself,
Lacy xx

Hi everyone, no news on house or weight, but BG was right down this morning (66 or 3.6) even though I reduced insulin. Wonder if it is too soon for Yerba Mate tea or maybe it made me not bother about snack or feeling hungry. Time will tell.

Had a chat with hubby and he has agreed to keep out of the way in future. This was unusual as it was a different agent and she asked is to stay close by to answer any questions. Trouble was they wanted to know about the pool and once he went and told them he seemed to just hang about and mansplain everything. Yes things are different in France but if someone is coming to live here or have a holiday home they can find things out for themselves rather than have it all explained to them. Also, he does tend to be Mr Negative, he always sees the downside before the good in something.

Hopefully, there will be more viewings and I will do the talking.

Still no news on the house. I am disappointed with my weight as yesterday I had lost a pound and this morning it has jumped back up to half a pound. It is still down but I cant understand as my calorie count was 758 and then I had a few nuts. It is what it is and we are going out tonight but I will still weigh tomorrow.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

S-g please don’t stress. Down around a pound, up around a pound is just the body ‘doing its thing’! Sorry if I’m speaking out of turn here so forgive me, BUT maybe you are eating too few calories? I understand we need to stay low carb but 758 is almost ‘starvation’ in the long term. And my goodness we’ve been here ‘in the long term’, if not longer!!! Maybe you should have a rethink after all these years. Yes stay low carb but ……

OK. So without noticing we’ve slipped into Sepember!
Do we have a new thread?
Do we want a new thread?
Have I missed something?

S-G selling your house is stressful & will kick up stress hormones that will affect weight as well as not sleeping well 🤔
Yes please Verano to a September thread & I know I have been rather absent but I have been reading the posts.
Onwards into September 👍
Margaret xx

Pootle do you want to carry on with a September thread?

Sorry folks… I have been absent for a while, although I have been reading all your posts on my email. I have been very down, but have kept to the diet and my weight is steady.
I will set up a September thread…

“Spectacular September with the BSD”

Hope to see you all there!!

Thank you Pootle & sorry to hear you have been feeling down! August seems to have been a difficult month for many of us & hopefully things will improve in September 🤞🤞🍀
With very best wishes
Margaret xx